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From Utopia to Bel Paese - Traveling Switzerland and Italy

2:09:00 PM

It all started with one of my very good friend getting an onsite assignment at Zurich. And on her insistence, I decided to let go off all inhibitions and booked my flight to Zurich. I was travelling international for the first time. And I was traveling solo!

Over the next few weeks, I
researched day and night about Switzerland, its train system and places I could
to explore; and in the end found something unique that piqued my interest - 'Schlaf
im Stroh’! It literally translates into 'Sleep in Straw'. To promote Agro
tourism, 150 farming families across Switzerland welcome travelers who are
willing to experience rural Switzerland by living life their way. We chose Appenzell's Brülisauer family.

Day 1, October 27th 2013, Sunday:

I flew by Swiss Air from
Mumbai and landed in Zurich at 06:15 a.m. (CET). Two hours from Zurich, the
village of Appenzellis closer to the Austria and Germany border. Enroute we
witnessed rolling green hills, so green that it looked photoshopped. Regula Brülisauer
picked us up from the station as promised and drove us to her farm - Strohgade.
Our cottage was right next to her house and the barn and overlooked miles of
rolling hills and the Sitter River meandering through the meadows. There were
sleeping bags laid on the straws considering the cold weather. We soon threw
our bags on the straw and went exploring. There were miles to explore -
beautiful miles.

There were Swiss cows grazing all around and they filled the
air with the melodious chimes of their bells. Back at the cottage, we found
bread, cheese, cold cut meat and wine nicely laid up on the table. The whole
setting reminded us of Enid Blyton's Famous Five where the five would go
backpacking around the country, cycling through meadows and staying in barns of
farming families at nights. The wine was stronger than what I mostly have in
India - this I realized next morning when jet lag woke me up at 4:30 a.m. I was
nicely tucked inside a sleeping bag on the straws. I had vague memories of
going on a night stroll towards the Sitter River, dancing on the wooden bridge
and then almost plunging into the river.

Day 2, October 28th 2013, Monday:

Regula served us with an
amazing breakfast. It was simple, yet perfect - bread, butter, marmalade,
coffee and an amazing view of Alpstein. Once the rather inexpensive bills were
cleared, she dropped up back at Appenzell station.

It was a weekday and my friend
had office, so it was time for my life’s first solo travel. At Zurich HB, I
stood wondering in front of the display board. I was using a 4 days Swiss Flexi
Pass. There were trains leaving for Geneva, Bern, Lucern, Basel, St. Gallen
and Zug. Out of all these, only Bern fitted both my interest and the hours of
day left to see a city; so that’s the train I got onto. Once in Bern, the
navigator came handy, thanks to technology. I walked past the Holy Church of
Ghost and through Marktgasse, a shopping street lined with attractive brand stores.
I saw Kafigturm – a sandstone tower built as a gate, the animatronic Zytglogge
clock tower and Bundesplatz – the Federal Palace of Switzerland and its display
of 26 dancing fountains that represent 26 Swiss cantons. I sat for a while at
one of the open cafes at the adjoining street Barrenplatz with a mug of beer before
heading back to Zurich.

Day 3, October 29th 2013, Tuesday:

Bern did one good thing to
me – It killed the ‘Fear of Unknown’. The day’s plan included a cross country
solo trip from Zurich to Lausanne to Montreux and back, via Zweisimmen and
Interlaken.

As my train neared Lausanne, it
passed through the Lavaux region – an UNESCO World Heritage Site for its miles
of terraced vineyards on the shores of Lake Geneva. From Lausanne I traveled to
Montreux. I had 1 hour 40 minutes in hand before the departure of the Golden
Pass Classic Express on which I had reserved a seat. I boarded a train to
Veytoux Chillon, the nearest station to the Chateau De Chillon and was soon at
this small castle on the shores of Lake Geneva. Once the residence of the
Counts of Savoy, it had inspired Lord Byron to write the poem The Prisoner of
Chillon.

Back at Montreux station, the Golden
Pass Classic Express waiting on the platform, looked like an old era train and
just as the name suggested - Classic.
The interiors of the train are plush and done in the Belle Époque style. From
Montreux, the train prepared to cut across Switzerland in a diagonal manner.
This region was the Swiss Riveira – the French speaking part of Switzerland, and
that reflected in the architecture and the landscape. We again passed the
Lavaux vineyards, the Rhone Valley, the palm lined Lake Geneva. It passed through
one Swiss village after another - Les Avants, Montbovon, Château-d'Oex, and
soon left the Swiss Riviera and entered Rougemont- a picture perfect village
with German styled wooden chalets. Then came Saanen and Gstaad. I call
these three the DDLJ zone. Then came Schönried and Saanenmoser - all these a
part of the Simmental Valley where you will see lush green pastures of the
Bernese Oberland with peacefully grazing Swiss cattle.

My classic journey
ended at the chalet filled village of Zweisimmen. From there I boarded a train
to Interlaken Ost. At Interlaken I walked along Hoheweg - Interlaken's main
shopping street, and indulged in some street shopping before heading back to
Zurich.

Day 4, October 30th 2013, Wednesday:

I was using the 3rd day
on my Swiss Flexi Pass to travel to Zermatt. During the last leg
of the journey till Visp, the train passes through theLotschberg Base Tunnel -
World's longest land tunnel. From Visp, Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (BVZ), a metre
gauge train takes you till Zermatt. Zermatt, a car free town, is the
combination of cozy chalets and glorious mountains.

The hotels and houses here
are more of mountain chalets made of dark chocolate colored wood. I had booked
a chalet room in Hotel Weisshorn. The hotel was very close to the Church
of St. Mauritius. On its side, it has the glass domed Matterhorn
Museum and if you venture behind the church, you will see the Zermatt
Mountaineer's Cemetery. Many mountaineers who had lost their lives while
trying to conquer the Matterhorn are buried here.

My solo travel ended as my friend
joined me at the Zermatt GGB station minutes before the scheduled
departure of the Gornergrat Bahn - the highest open air railway of
Europe. Thanks to my Swiss Flexi Pass, I got 50% discount on the ticket,
which is otherwise very expensive. From Zermatt GGB it climbs almost 10
kilometers ascending upto the Gornergrat railway station which is at a height
of 3090 meters above sea level. The track was extremely steep. Within minutes we
passed from green meadows to rocky ridges to the realms of snow. The
temperature at the snow covered Gornergrat was -7 degree Celsius. From there we
saw a range of majestic mountains. Two most worth mentioning are the Matterhorn
and the Monte Rosa.

Of the one hour that we were at Gornergrat, we spent most
of the time doing Matterhorn photography, sometimes squeezing ourselves in the
frame. As per a local saying, those who see the Matterhorn will become
successful and wealthy. We did feel wealthy in experience. The sun had started
to set and its light on the snowy peaks gave them an orange glow. Standing at
that altitude, I thought of those mountaineer's graves that I had seen in
Zermatt.

Later our hunt for a good food
joint helped us in some night time exploration of Zermatt. Post dinner, we once
again entered the cemetery. It looked different at night with candles placed
near the headstones in small red glasses. We stood there for sometime in silence
to pay respect to those who lost their lives while climbing the Matterhorn. I
would have loved to stay longer at Zermatt but we had got to know from a last
moment research that the Vatican Museum remains closed on All Saint's day. And
that meant we were to leave for Rome as early as possible on the next day – the
day of Halloween.

Day 5, October 31st 2013, Thursday:

The change of country was
evident - in the landscape and the houses we passed. Italy was quite evidently
a financially less developed country than Switzerland, which is the closest
comparison to an Utopian nation. Utopia... A society that is close to perfection. The train passed by Lake Comominutes before
reaching Milan. The EuroStar tickets from Milan to Rome didn't guarantee seats,
so after boarding the train we tried our luck twice, but on both tries someone
soon came and claimed the seats as reserved. We had earlier seen two Italian
men sitting on the foot board of the train. It was a 5 hour journey and with no
option left, we grabbed two foot boards near the train's washroom.

Rome felt as hot as a frying pan
with our woolen layers still on. Our Bed & Breakfast Santa Bibiana was few minutes’
walk from Roma Termini. We had pre-booked the 3 p.m. entry slot of the Vatican Museum
- the last entry of the day. We took the metro from the nearest stop Vittorio
Emanuele and got off at Ottaviano San Pietro. From Ottaviano, we walked to
Vatican City - the smallest State of the world.

The Vatican Museum displays some
of the most renowned masterpieces of High Renaissance art. We saw the statue of
Hermes, Sleeping Ariadne, the Gallery of Maps, Raphael's Rooms with Raphael's
frescoes and the Sistine Chapel. The chapel felt like a masterpiece
of Michelangelo with its spectacular ceiling and The Last Judgement on the altar wall. Next on the list was St. Peter's Basilica - the center of the Christian world. It was undoubtedly the most lavishly gilded church that I have seen in my life. We spotted two Swiss guards in their orange-blue-red uniform at the exit.

After spending some time at St.
Peter’s Square and indulging in some street shopping right outside the Vatican
gates, we headed for Colosseum. We wanted to see it at night for capturing some
dark hour shot of the glowing monument. That was our last stop before calling
it a day.

Day 6, November 1st 2013, Friday:

We again traveled
to Colosseum - this time to actually enter it. After a long wait in the ticket
queue, we bought joint entry tickets for Colosseum and the Roman Forum. When we
finally stepped inside this Wonder of the World, I couldn't help but think
"Colosseum - Check!!!"

From Colosseum, we walked to the adjoining
Roman Forum - the ruins of the seat of the Roman Empire. We even spotted a
fresh excavation going on. Quite evidently the ruins still have a lot to
reveal. From Colosseo metro station, we boarded a metro to Spagna, from where
most other points of interest of Rome are within a walking distance. Our first
stop was Trevi Fountain, apparently a wish granting fountain which granted only
one wish - if your coin tossed with your right hand over the left shoulder
drops in its water - you get to return to Rome. It was an easy feat to achieve.

From Trevi, a 15 minutes’ walk led us to the magnificent Pantheon which was
closed for All Saint's day. We walked for few minutes toward the west of
Pantheon to reach Piazza Navona, a large square with the Fontana dei Quattro
Fiumi(Fountain of Four Rivers) at its center. Built by Bernini, the
fountain depicts four rivers of the four continents - Danube for Europe, Ganges
for Asia, Nile for Africa and Rio de la Plata for the Americas.

Trevi Fountain

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Ganges in view)

I loved Rome's
cobble stoned streets with fountains and cozy cafes tucked away at every
corner. After Piazza Navona, we hunted for the best possible way to reach Santa
Bibiana, as we had a flight to Venice in few hours. We zeroed in on a bus to Colosseo.
From Colosseo we took a train to Vittorio Emanuele via Termini.A
whirlwind travel to Venice followed. After picking up our luggage from Santa
Bibiana, we boarded the Leonardo Express from Roma Termini which dropped us at
Fiumicino airport. Our EasyJet flight landed at Venice Marco Polo airport at
8:50 p.m. An ACTV Line-5 bus from the airport dropped us at Piazzale Roma. We
purchased two 24 hours Vaporetto passes and boarded the No. 2 Vaporetto from
there. The 30 minutes boat trip finally ended when we got off at a stop called
Zittele at the Giudecca island. We had booked 2 beds at the Generator Hostel located
on that island. We were dead tired when we finally hit our bunk bed that night.

Day 7, November 2nd 2013, Saturday:

Keen on capturing the
Venetian sunrise, we woke up just before day break, grabbed the camera and
stepped out of the hostel. The Guidecca island being just across Piazza San
Marco, made it an easy spot to capture a sunrise over the San Marco. We
checked out after breakfast. I have always hated hostels in India, but I can
vouch for these hostels meant for travelers spread all over Europe. They are
great place to live in if you are on a tight budget and if you intend to meet
new people.

Vaporetto no. 4.1 took us down
the canal and we were soon at San Marco. Piazza San Marco with the Bell
Tower and the Doge’s palace was heavily crowded. Another turn off was that
the square was flooded with water at many places due to acqua alta, with
people walking around in plastic rain boots. The crowd, the water and the fact
that we have had our fair share of church trips at Rome made us give the
Basilica a skip; and with that we skipped entering Doge's Palace too.

The hidden lanes, the small canal
bridges, gondoliers rowing their gondolas through narrow canals singing
sweet barcarole - For me that was real Venice and to find that we
travelled to Murano. Murano, a small island considered as a part of Venice, has
rows of colorful houses, each house in different shades. It is also famous for
Murano glass, which is made in its glass blowing factories, its very own glass
museum and numerous shops selling things made of Murano glass. There we found
the real feel of Venice - we walked aimlessly through the alley ways,
along the many canals, crossing small canal bridges, we sat in a trattoria by
the canal, sipping wine and sighing at the beauty surrounding us.

After Murano, we traveled to
Rialto market. It was nearing sunset and we were at the best place to witness
it - Rialto Bridge. Both sides of the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge are
lined with open-air restaurants and cozy cafes. We chose one of the canal side
restaurant and ordered pizza, pasta and wine. The experience of dining by the
canal was quintessentially Venetian; where else could we experience such bliss
otherwise.

We boarded the EuroCity to Milan
from Venezia Santa Lucia railway station and reached the Italian fashion
capital around eight at night. We had booked a room at Hotel Palazzo Delle
Stelline, which was right next to the Santa Maria Delle Grazie church. The
church - a UNESCO World Heritage site - houses Leonardo's The Last
Supper, something you get to see only if you book the tickets months in
advance, which we didn't! We met three Italian friends of ours for dinner,
who had studied with us as exchange students during MBA. A pizza dinner was
followed by drinks at a pub, walking in the chilly rain and hanging out at their
apartment till late night. When they dropped us back at our hotel, it was
almost 3 a.m.

Day 8, November 3rd 2013, Sunday:

We were meeting our friends
again at Piazza del Duomo. Duomo, the Milan Cathedral had us spellbound. It was
a massive Gothic church built with white marbles.

We spent some time at
the adjoining Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II- a shopping mall that looked
more like a palace and had brands of the likes of Prada and Louise Vuitton.

Italy is a fusion of history,
culture, art and passion. It is rightly called Bel Paese – a beautiful country!
At La Rinascente - a restaurant overlooking the Duomo, we spent
an hour or so before rushing to Milano Centrale for our train back to Zurich.
We traveled Eurostar First class till Brig, not by choice, but because the
second class tickets were sold out. We changed trains at Brig and reached
Zurich just before sunset. From Brig to Zurich, I used my 4th day of
Swiss Flexi Pass.

In my quest to explore
Switzerland and Italy, I had ignored the city I had chosen as my base. With
just a night left before my flight back to India, all we could do was to visit
Lake Zurich and walk around Zurich's cobbestoned old town. I could see the
Grossmünster and Fraumünster, two churches on either side of river Limmat,
wonderfully lit at night.

We had donur kebab at a Turkish joint and drinks
at the Oliver Twist pub, before heading back to my friend’s place.

It had been a crazy trip!!!

From freezing Gornergrat to frying pan Rome;

From travelling on EuroStar First Class
to foot board of a EuroCity train;

From waking up before daybreak to capture
the Venetian sunrise to entering the Zermatt
Mountaineer's Cemetery at midnight to bow down to those who lost
lives while climbing the Matterhorn;

From classy hotels to mountain chalets to
youth hostels to sleeping on straws in a farm!